Queer Eye

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Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is an hour-long American Emmy award-winning television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003, and promptly became both a surprise hit (at least by the standards of cable TV) and one of the most talked-about television programs of 2003. The show's name was changed to simply Queer Eye at the beginning of its third season, to reflect the show's change in direction, from making over only straight men, to including women and gay people too. Queer Eye ended production in June 2006. In January 2007 Bravo announced the final 10 episodes would air in summer 2007. [1]

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Cast 1.2 Critical Response 2 Spin-off Series 3 Soundtrack 4 Parodies 5 Cancellation 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Overview

Fitting into the genre of both reality television and "make-over" programs, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, created by David Collins and David Metzler, stars five openly gay men each of whom fills a particular role. The show is produced by Scout Productions.

Each episode features a new candidate (usually a straight/heterosexual man) to be culturally transformed by the "Fab Five". Each candidate prepares for a special event and receives generous guidance from each "Fab Five" member in their respective categories of expertise. The Queer Eye cast has helped prepare for such events as a marriage proposal, a first dinner with a girlfriend's parents, and a backyard barbecue. The "Fab Five" redecorate, rewardrobe, and restyle to create a completely new "look" for the candidate.

In a typical episode, the "Fab Five" arrive at the candidate's residence to assess his "level of style." The cast ransacks the home, with a running "style" commentary on everything they find. In their investigation, each expert attempts to understand the unique preferences of the candidate in order to best advise him on how to improve.

Special episodes of Queer Eye include two episodes filmed in England, three filmed in Texas, three filmed in Las Vegas, two episodes in which the Fab Five made over gay men (both of which aired during June, Gay Pride Month, in 2004 and 2006), one episode making over a female-to-male transgender person, a makeover on the Red Sox baseball team (filmed in Florida), several wedding-themed episodes, and several holiday specials.

Queer Eye has been broadcast worldwide and continues in syndication. In the UK it airs on cable channel Living TV, where it has been very popular. It was also shown on Channel 4 for a while. The original US show also airs on the Spanish cable channel Cosmopolitan TV, on the Portuguese cable channel Sic Mulher, on the Turkish satellite channel Show Plus, and on the South Korean channel OnStyle.

[edit] Cast

The self-dubbed "Fab Five" are:

• Ted Allen: "Food and Wine Connoisseur," expert on food, alcohol, cooking, and meal preparation
• Kyan Douglas: "Grooming Guru," expert on hair, grooming, personal hygiene, and makeup
• Thom Filicia: "Design Doctor," expert on interior design and home organization
• Carson Kressley: "Fashion Savant," expert on clothing and fashion
• Jai Rodriguez: "Culture Vulture," expert on popular culture, relationships, and social interaction

The pilot, filmed in June 2002 in Boston, featured three different men in the roles of grooming (Sam Spector), interior design (Charles Daboub Jr.), and culture (James Hannaham)[2]. Carson Kressley and Ted Allen are the only original 'Fab Fivers.'

The first two episodes of the show filmed (which aired as episodes 1.2 and 1.3) featured Blair Boone as guest 'culture vulture.' Boone was originally hired due to his academic qualifications in languages, art and music, but during filming producers felt he was not outgoing enough on-camera, so quickly started re-casting sessions, looking specifically for professional performers to provide the necessary onscreen charisma. Actor/singer Jai Rodriguez was hired and has been the permanent 'culture vulture' since the third episode filmed (the fourth episode filmed aired as the show's premiere). Boone sued for breach of contract, claiming he should be paid not just for two episodes but for the season he had been contracted to film, and the case was settled out of court.

[edit] Critical Response

Critical response to the debut in the mainstream press was mostly favorable. Its sympathetic representation of openly gay men won acclaim from both straight and gay viewers.^[1] Others criticized the program for making generalizations about sexual identity, namely that gay men are inherently more fashionable and stylish than heterosexuals. Queer Eye has received much critical acclaim, and the show won an Emmy Award in 2004, and was nominated for another Emmy in 2005.

[edit] Spin-off Series

The series' success was such that television networks in several countries created their own versions of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for broadcast in their countries. However few of these homegrown versions have proven as successful as the original, and most did not last long before cancellation.

The first company to produce their own version was Viasat. Viasat produced local versions in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The Danish version proved the most popular and ran 6 seasons.

Only two spin-offs are still airing regular episodes. The Italian version has experienced success on La7 channel as I Fantastici Cinque (literally "the fabulous five"). The first episode of the Finnish version Sillä Silmällä, (literally "with that certain eye") was aired on March 30th, 2005 and created some controversy - not for the homosexual content but for the blatant product placement considered to be a transgression of a Finnish law against "hidden advertising".

The spin-offs cancelled due to low ratings include a British version produced by Living TV that was broadcast on terrestrial channel Channel 4 in the UK for two seasons (although several episodes later aired in the US); in Australia the show premiered on Network Ten in early 2005 but was cancelled after three episodes; a Spanish version, named Operación G aired on Antena 3 for only a few weeks; the German equivalent Schwul macht cool (with four hosts) was cancelled on RTL 2 after six episodes; Queer, Cinq Experts dans le Vent was shown in France on TF1 for eight episodes in 2004; and Esquadrão G, a Portuguese version of the show, was cancelled in Portugal after the end of the first season.

In January 2005 Scout Productions premiered a spin-off series titled Queer Eye for the Straight Girl, set in Los Angeles. It featured a different cast with the goal of making over women. The show was cancelled after one season.

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was released on February 10, 2004, in the US. It reached number 1 on the electronic music chart in the US and the number 2 position on the soundtrack charts, and reached the top 40 in the Billboard 200 album chart. In Australia, the soundtrack was released for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and the popularity of the show in Australia led to the soundtrack reaching the top 10 of the Australian album chart in March 8, 2004. It was certified gold in Australia by the end of March 2004. The song "Superstar" by Jamelia from the soundtrack also went to number one on the Australian singles charts in the same week, and the theme song of the show, "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" by Widelife, had gone top twenty as of the end of March 2004.

[edit] Parodies

Comedy Central hosted a spoof television show called Straight Plan for the Gay Man (which also aired in several other countries, including the UK). The Comedy Central show Blue Collar TV also featured a spoof sketch called Hick Eye for the Queer Guy in the third episode of its first season [3].

The animated series South Park aired a satirical episode about the Queer Eye hosts, implying that they were evil crab people in disguise. One of the gay characters on the show, Mr. Garrison, commented that the Queer Eye guys couldn't possibly be gay, because they were "selling out their own kind," which resulted in their secret being revealed: they were Crab People. [4]

The Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible featured an episode entitled Dimension Twist, which had Kim and Ron sucked into the 'television dimension' and meeting the stars of a program entitled 'Evil Eye for the Bad Guy'. Two of the three members of the cast, known as the 'Terrible Trio' (a play on the Fab Five tag), are based on Carson and Ted.^{[citation needed]}

Megatokyo has a one-shot comic entitled Angel Eye for the Geek Guy. [5] The strip is notable for its catchphrase, "I hope we've made you feel really inadequate and have inspired you to completely change who you are in the name of social acceptance. After all, who cares who you are, as long as you look good?"

Universal Studios in Florida had actors portraying the Fab Five appear in their Bill and Ted Show during their Hallowe'en Horror Nights in 2004. The actors were planted in the audience, and were going to makeover Clark Kent.^{[citation needed]}

The ABC Family movie Campus Confidential featured a Queer Eye-esque group called the Fab Four.^{[citation needed]}

In his comedy act, Jeff Foxworthy talks about how his pitch for his version of Queer Eye where hookers take the place of gay men to improve straight women.^{[citation needed]}

In the Philippines, the Kamikazee band parodized the Fab 5 by creating a spoof called Fag 5 for the Straight Guy in the music video entitled "Ambisyoso".^{[citation needed]}

One episode of Sesame Street had Oscar the Grouch, along with four other grouches, hosting a spoof called "Grouch Eye for the Nice Guy". His team was dubbed the "Flab Five", giving Bob a grouchy makeover, and getting him angry.^{[citation needed]}

Sluggy Freelance has a story arc called "Straight Eye for the Queer Guy," in which Torg and Riff make over two gay brothers in an effort to hide their homosexuality during their father's visit.

[edit] Cancellation

On January 12, 2007, Bravo confirmed Queer Eye's cancellation. The remaining episodes, will be billed as Queer Eye: The Final Season. [6]

[edit] Trivia

• The show is known for the frequent use of the Polari word "tszuj" (in the cast's preferred spelling; the word is also spelled "zhoosh"), meaning "to style (something or somebody)". [7] When pronounced, the word begins and ends with the same phoneme, the "zh" sound of the z in "azure". Although native English speakers have no trouble pronouncing the word, no ordinary English word begins with that phoneme, which accounts for the difficulty in devising a good spelling.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BravoTV Official Website
• Queer Eye at the Internet Movie Database
• Tszuj-It! Fansite
• TV Series Finale- cancellation details